WITH less than two lengths covering the first four, and less than 20 covering all 11 finishers, this year’s Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo probably didn’t put up one of the all-time great performances in the race. But he turned up and delivered, and in the process he joined a rare elite group of horses to have won the great race more than once.

Al Boum Photo may have been helped along the way by the race being tactical, for he is by no means a one-dimensional stayer. In particular, the pace in the early stages was tepid with the leader in this race was 15 lengths or so behind the leader in the later Foxhunter, through the early stages.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup field made up the leeway after halfway, and more besides, but the closing stages still tested speed more than stamina in relative terms, as a finishing speed of around 108% of the average race speed testifies.

Al Boum Photo went to the front four out then battled bravely to see off an even stouter stayer in Santini and one for whom the trip might have been a fraction too far in Lostintranslation. Monalee dispelled slight doubts about his stamina, at least in a race run like this, by keeping on again to finish a close fourth.

In terms of time-based ratings, and after allowing for the run of the race, Al Boum Photo repeated his 171 figure from 12 months earlier. Santini is on 170 but could yet justify the slightly higher figure I had on him going into this race given a more thorough test of stamina, while Lostintranslation and Monalee come out at 169.

There were some interesting performances in behind, not least by Real Steel, who briefly looked as if he might come past everything to win but who then failed to get home even in these circumstances. Nonetheless, he is a talented horse when on song and might be another for the next King George.

Kemboy is neither jumping well enough nor running well enough at present to scale the heights he managed around 12 months ago. Presenting Percy was a more obvious victim of poor jumping, in that he came down at the second-last, but for which he might have run to about 164. That seems to be about his limit at present.

While the right horses came to the fore at the end of this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, there were sufficiently small margins between them to make any rematch no foregone conclusion, though when such a rematch may be is anyone’s guess.

The blue riband of chasing ended up being run in a time 5.0s quicker than the Foxhunter, when a bit more than double that has been the average in recent years.

It Came To Pass was a surprise winner of the latter but a pretty good one according to the clock, for he managed to run from three out very nearly as quickly as did Al Boum Photo and Santini. I have a figure of 147 on him, which is equal to last year’s Foxhunter winner Hazel Hill (a late defector in this) and above average by the race standards.